posted at 9:00 pm on May 20, 2010 by Allahpundit

BLITZER: So if people want to come from Guatemala or Honduras or El Salvador or Nicaragua, they want to just come into Mexico, they can just walk in?

CALDERON: No. They need to fulfill a form. They need to establish their right name. We analyze if they have not a criminal precedent. And they coming into Mexico. Actually…

BLITZER: Do Mexican police go around asking for papers of people they suspect are illegal immigrants?

CALDERON: Of course. Of course, in the border, we are asking the people, who are you?

And if they explain…

BLITZER: At the border, I understand, when they come in.

CALDERON: Yes.

BLITZER: But once they’re in…

CALDERON: But not — but not in — if — once they are inside the — inside the country, what the Mexican police do is, of course, enforce the law. But by any means, immigration is [not] a crime anymore in Mexico.

Sounds like he’s saying (or trying to say) that you have to show papers at the border to get in but maybe not once you’re inside — unless, of course, Mexican police need to see them to “enforce the law.” Rush’s cuts leave out the border part. What exactly is “the law” in Mexico, though? Well, the boss emeritus has this:

– Law enforcement officials at all levels — by national mandate — must cooperate to enforce immigration laws, including illegal alien arrests and deportations. The Mexican military is also required to assist in immigration enforcement operations. Native-born Mexicans are empowered to make citizens’ arrests of illegal aliens and turn them in to authorities.

– Ready to show your papers? Mexico’s National Catalog of Foreigners tracks all outside tourists and foreign nationals. A National Population Registry tracks and verifies the identity of every member of the population, who must carry a citizens’ identity card. Visitors who do not possess proper documents and identification are subject to arrest as illegal aliens.

That’s from a 2006 study on Mexican immigration law, some of which is now out of date. For instance, Calderon was right when he told CNN yesterday that it’s no longer a criminal offense, as it was until last year, to be caught illegally inside the country. But then there’s this:

Mexican lawmakers changed that in 2008 to make illegal immigration a civil violation like it is in the United States, but their law still reads an awful lot like Arizona’s.

Arizona’s policy, which Calderon derided on Wednesday as “discriminatory” and assailed again on Thursday, requires law enforcement to try to determine the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant — provided they are already in contact with that person. They can’t randomly stop people and demand papers and the law prohibits racial profiling.

The Mexican law also states that law enforcement officials are “required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues.”

Not sure if that means at the border only or while you’re inside the country. Regardless, Mexico’s best deterrent against illegals isn’t its statutes but the fact that abuse of immigrants is so vicious and endemic that Amnesty International called it a “human rights crisis” just last month. Bear this in mind the next time you see some leftist idiot applauding Calderon’s fine principled stand on the dignity of all individuals:

Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico, documents the alarming levels of abuse faced by the tens of thousands of Central American irregular migrants that every year attempt to reach the US by crossing Mexico.

“Migrants in Mexico are facing a major human rights crisis leaving them with virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses,” said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher at Amnesty International.

“Persistent failure by the authorities to tackle abuses carried out against irregular migrants has made their journey through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world.”

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Mexican president: Do you think we’re as stupid as you are? Heck, we know those foreign invaders from the south are only intent on passing through our country to illegally enter the United States. If we keep them from entering OUR country, we can keep them from competing with OUR citizens for jobs in the U.S.

I don’t get what the problem is with these people. Not long ago, I was traveling after dark on a highway that around here is a known drug route. I had a headlight out and a sheriff’s deputy pulled me over. I’m perfectly sure he did so in order to check me out and my vehicle and see if maybe something sinister was going on. In reality, he couldn’t have done so without some other reason, this being by broken headlight. I showed him my license and registration and he sent me on my way with an admonition to take it straight to Wal-Mart and have it fixed. What would have happened if I hadn’t had my license and/or registration? Would I not have been arrested? How is it any different if an illegal gets pulled over and can’t produce a passport or green card or whatever? I worked with a guy once who was a French citizen of Moroccan descent. He was in a department store in Paris once while his wife was trying on dresses and he had just purchased some kind of Le Creuset pot or something. He was unpacking it from the box to check it out and about four plain clothes store security guards swarmed him (this was during a time that Paris was having a lot of trouble with terrorists leaving bombs in trash cans and the like). You better believe they asked to see his “papers.” And in fact, anyone who travels around Europe without their passport on their person is asking for trouble b/c if you otherwise get detained or questioned for something and can’t prove who you are. It is insanity that we don’t enforce the same policies here.